2y ago

Chinese coastguard vessels block Philippines counterparts in dramatic standoff at sea

www.independent.co.uk

Chinese vessels block Filipino ships in dramatic standoff at South China Sea

A Chinese coastguard ship came dangerously close to a Philippine patrol ship in the South China Sea, sparking fears of a territorial dispute in the contested waters.

The Chinese ship manoeuvred and came within 4 metres of the patrol ship near the Second Thomas Shoal. One other Philippine coastguard vessel was blocked and surrounded by the Chinese coastguard and militia ships.

The altercation had dragged on for about eight hours on Wednesday after China formed a blockade in the high seas off the shoal that both nations have laid claim to.

Two supply boats being escorted by the Philippine coastguard had breached the Chinese blockade and delivered food and other supplies to a Filipino marine outpost at the shoal.

7 comments

- Meh.
  Russia has been attacking or invading someone pretty constantly for the last 30 years.
  And the Israel/Palestine conflict has waxed and waned since the intifada kicked off in the late 80s.
  And china has been threatening the countries bordering the south china sea since Mao was in charge.
  And everyone has been predicting WW3 since the blockade of West Berlin in 1948.
  All I see in the same amount of tragic conflict that has been going on since, well forever.
- Russia's invasion of Ukraine started in 2014, this Hamas attack is a bad one but nothing new, and china having territorial disputes in the South China Sea is most certainly par for the course.
  Humans suck and none of this is really out of the ordinary. russia had been committing genocide in Syria and it just didn't get the attention Ukraine is.
  This is all normal shitty human behavior that occurs all around the world every year.
- Yay!!!
  Not.
There are by now about a dozen stories, from assorted high profile press outlets, all stemming from the same incident involving Fillipino coastguard vessels on which international reporters had been invited. The Philippines have played the PR game exceptionally and uncharacteristically well. Maybe the US has helped by providing advice (just speculating).
It's hard to predict whether this will have a deterrent effect on Chinese actions, though.
China has long claimed sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, even though it overlaps with the waters of Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines.
If China claimed this water, it'll effectively become a south east asia country and eligible to join ASEAN /s
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The altercation had dragged on for about eight hours on Wednesday after China formed a blockade in the high seas off the shoal that both nations have laid claim to.
They have been violating international law, particularly the collision regulations,” Philippines’ coastguard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said at a briefing.
He said a collision was averted when one of the two Philippine vessels, the BRP Sindangan, rapidly reversed its engine to avoid slamming into the Chinese coastguard ship that crossed its bow at a distance of only a metre.
The hostilities between the two erupted at dawn after the Chinese coastguard ship closely tailed the Philippine vessels enroute to the Second Thomas Shoal.
The long-simmering territorial disputes on the world’s busiest trade routes are considered a sensitive fault line in the US-China rivalry in the region.
A small contingent of Filipino marines and navy personnel has stood guard for years on a long-marooned, but still commissioned warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, at the shoal.
The original article contains 658 words, the summary contains 164 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

7 comments